While I was at the thrift store looking for records to melt in to bowls, I found this pretty 8x10 wood frame for 99 cents. However, it's in desperate need of refinishing, as it looks like the layer of paint (?) that was on it is peeling off. It's a rather ornate frame with 3-dimensional roses around the border.

I was thinking of either repainting it and putting either gold or silver leaf on it, or spray painting it silver. Are there any steps I should take? Do I need to sand it down (might be difficult with the roses)? Should I use a particular type of paint?

Or, does anyone have any other really great ideas on how to refinish it? I definitely intend to use it to hold a photo.

I redid a thrift store find that was the same thing. sorta...no flowers ..but somewhat of a textured fancy edge [ see pic ]

I sanded the old paint off slightly [ I didnt sand even all of it..just until the frame felt smooth ...... and I was careful around the inset where the design is. ( I would take the lowest grade sandpaper around the flowers and use the corner of the sand paper to get it the grooves ) I cleaned it , made sure it was dry and sprayed it with 3 coats of silver spray paint.

The inside is even the cardboard I was using to spray paint on! it had a neat look to it from being randomly sprayed, so I just cut it to fit the frame and put..yup..

A picture of Archie + Edith from All in the Family. I'm an Archie Bunker fanatic. crazy enough this pic is in my bedroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!

artzy, that looks great! If you are worried about taking off too much paint or detail with sandpaper, try steel wool - I use it all the time whenever I strip and refinish anything.

dani24, not sure what color your frame is, but if you want to refinish it, after you smooth any rough edges (like where the paint has peeled away) you could put crackle medium or hide glue (does the same thing as crackle medium) and paint on top of that - the colors from underneath will show throw a bit (which I usually like) and crackling can hide a multitude of sins in terms of small chips, etc. Sounds like you got a deal - have fun with it!

Also if the design is too ornate to sand, you might want to try some paint stripper. You can get this at Sears or your local hardware store. It's nasty, toxic stuff and you have to wear rubber gloves, but it softens the paint up so that you can scrape it off (sometimes even wipe it off). I did this in my old house to remove the paint from these cool, patterned switchplates that were in the house. Then I covered them with that silver rub n' buff stuff. They turned out really neat - but the silver started to wear off after a while. kind of an antiqued effect. Too bad I don't live there anymore so I can't take pictures....

melidomi, next time try something called CitriStrip - it's an less toxic, more enviromentally friendly, and smells great! I will say that sometimes, on a really tough finish, it won't work as well, and then you have to use the toxic stuff - but I do a lot of stripping and refinishing of furniture etc. and I would say it works about 75% of the time.